RATINGS
EU outlook raised
Moody’s raised its rating outlook for the EU to stable from negative on Friday, citing the improvement of its members’ finances and falling risks from the eurozone debt crisis. Moody’s affirmed the EU’s top-flight “Aaa” rating and said the main reason for the outlook change is “the improvement in the credit standing of the largest shareholders that the EU relies on” in crises. It pointed to the improved ratings of Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, countries whose ratings outlooks have recently turned stable or positive. “Together, 80.5 percent of the contributions to the EU’s budget now come from countries with a stable or positive outlook,” Moody’s said.
ECONOMY
Venezuelan inflation rises
Venezuela’s annual inflation rate rose to 57.3 percent last month, the Venezuelan central bank said on Friday, as violent opposition demonstrations during the month disrupted its economy. The South American OPEC nation, which has one of the world’s highest rates of inflation, said that despite the protests inflation slowed on a month-on-month basis to 2.4 percent from 3.3 percent in January. Demonstrators outraged over shortages of staple goods and soaring consumer prices have been staging protests and blocking roads since the middle of last month demanding that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro resign.
ECONOMY
Fed reports US$4tn balance
The US Federal Reserve said on Friday that its balance sheet swelled to US$4 trillion at the end of last year as it made massive asset purchases to support the US economy. The Fed, in a report of its financial results last year, said net assets increased by US$1.1 trillion compared with its balance on Dec. 31, 2012. It paid net profit of US$79.6 billion to the US Treasury. Last year’s Treasury payment was less than the record US$88.4 billion in 2012. The Fed said it had reaped no gains on the sales of US Treasury securities last year compared with US$13.3 billion in gains in the prior year. While earnings are generated by the interest rate the Fed charges to banks in refinancing operations, the bulk of the Fed’s earnings last year came from interest accrued from the asset-purchase program, which is aimed at damping long-term interest rates to encourage US lending and hiring.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla to keep stores
Tesla Motors Inc chairman Elon Musk said the company will keep its two New Jersey stores open as showrooms after appointees of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie barred it from selling directly to consumers. Musk said Tesla’s stores, at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus and the Mall at Short Hills in Millburn, will become “galleries” on April 1, when the ban takes effect. Customers can view the cars there before ordering from the company’s Web site. Tesla will continue selling from locations in Manhattan and suburban Philadelphia, he said in a blog post. The eight-member US Motor Vehicle Commission, which consists of members of Christie’s cabinet and other gubernatorial appointees, voted unanimously on Tuesday to block Tesla from direct sales. While auto dealers said the move would protect consumers, Tesla and its supporters accused the state of favoring local dealerships.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six